This is a small piece about the colonial past of India that I wrote to honor our greats heroes. Also to commemorate Gandhi Jayanti on 2nd Oct.

India learnt a big lesson in her colonial century. The British came to a country that had more than 20% in the world’s GDP and by the time they India in 1947, it was just barely 3% of the net contribution. So, at the time of her independence, India lost nearly 6 times of her economic growth in comparison to 200 years back, millions of Indians perished due to poor authority and a country was born with nothing more than few genius minds and one great leader. These numbers are not important in the context of this topic. But it surely signifies one point. And that point is relevant to this very topic. Consider this: What would writers during our independence visualize India’s future in the next 50-60 years. The point here is, Colonial past was a lesson to millions of Indians and blessings to the whole of Indian Territory. The brutal bloodshed in the hands of British Empire made us adopt tuff policies and ideologies. It taught us where unity can becomes strength and where diversity must be respected. Dr B R Ambedkar, no doubt, gave us a constitution that unified this country into the hegemony of truth and trust.
What did we learnt from our repression in the past? The future of India, unlike other countries, does not depend just on policies and law. India is a cosmopolitan country. Just marking on the basis of language, there are almost 21 types of community in India that has a unique mother tongue. Then differentiation can be made on the basis of religion, tradition, caste and nonetheless monetary status. Inspite of such diverse status of people, India did survive a fairly peaceful post-Independence era. Even though our international boundary did suffer quite a few rifts but there were no major internal violence or military coup in the country. Minor disturbances did occur, like the Gujrat riot on 2002 and some others in the past but the country as a whole didn’t crumble. The government stood up their ground and didn’t fall in any such events. After globalization hit Indian during the 1990s, it was a very different story all together. But moral remained the same; which is, integrity of this country was held on firm ground. The authorities and rules made to run this country has held up in some the worst possible cases. It has been possible mainly due to her people. The unique structure of India society and the inter-relationship acquired in the process of development has helped our country evolve into a unified nation. It is easy to debate that different people have different views and thus can lead to conflicts. Well this is very much true. But we as Indian have crossed this problem during our colonial past. We know the consequence of such conflicts. Internal difference can easily lure outsiders (here it was British) to take advantage of the weak nation.

This is a story of two people in this small world. One boy trying to make a life and one girl, who already found her in him. They chose each other inspite of knowing a bitter truth. By the end of this story, it will be clear what the truth it. But for now, let’s proceed with them. So this is world is small, right!! You have your social connectivity, fast travel via air and the magical gift of internet. No place is far and no one is ever out of your reach. With each day, it gets smaller and you get closer. But there’s no replacement of a human touch. I mean, can anything ever replace when you go and hug your bestie or kiss your lover. I don’t think nothing can ever replace this feeling or, let me put it like this, if there is anything money can’t buy that would simply be the human touch. Enough of this technology and poetic talk! Let’s get back to our protagonists of the story.

By now, you’ll have realized this is a love story. Yes true, indeed it is. But, hold on! Don’t assume, this is a sequel to any other stories you know. The meeting of these love birds is, as usual, through the famous online book. It started from Hi to lets have each other’s number. Then slowly momentum did build up. It was then photo exchanges, knowing each other habits and schedules. Gaps between individual texts started getting smaller and then, one hand wasn’t enough to type fast. With more time, they started getting closer to each other. But, again hold on! I haven’t mentioned they fell in love so just take it slow. They became friends. I mean darn close friends; those friends to whom you can actually become your inner child and stop acting mature. You stop using your head to talk because you say just anything you feel like. They took this part of their relationship too serious. It was like, you are my baby so you will do what I say you and the other one be like, No, you are my baby so I know what’s better for you. Fights were common as it is common in every relationship. With each post-fight silence, they never stopped coming back to each other, not physically thou. There was something between them, they couldn’t resist. They couldn’t stop thinking about each other. And now comes the funny part.

This half friend half couple kind of relationship went on for around two years. In this time period, they never met. I mean, seriously, they never met. It was all in words, voice and some photos. It’s never a strong urge to meet your bestie asap. You know, you will see them at one point and when you do, you’ll talk as if it was only a one day gap. No matter how long you stay away from your bestie, it is always the same when you meet. So, for them also, it was this exact thinking. And thus, it never occurred to them that they should meet. In those two years they found out few facts and all of them were related to one topic, which is, they can’t live without each other. But they made sure, they are not couples in words. It was totally unsure why they chose this. Maybe they were too shy, maybe afraid or simply maybe, they enjoyed their unique relationship. Whatever it was, it changed at the New Year eve of 2017.

This story is not about what they did during their relationship or using fancy adjectives to portray my writing skill. Don’t forget about the “bitter truth”. So, let’s proceed with the timeline. We were on the eve of 2017. On that day, they found out they love each other. And proposals!! No, not exactly. Nobody proposed. It was something in their phone call when they realized, I love you. Then they would ask each other, since when you loved me, why didn’t you say it before and you know all those initial love curiosities. The last bit of barrier of being strangers was broken. It was then all heck loose. Their talk went on for hours, more intimate memories were made and slowly a healthy strong bond was build up. After around 9 months of a sound relationship, finally it was time to meet.

And, now we come to the best part of the story. It was a big day for them. They were finally meeting after 9 long months of relationship and many more of being together. Preparations were made well in advance. They gave huge attention to tiny details. It was, what the other one would like me to dress, what his favourite colors, what’s her favourite thing as gift. So, they started preparing with things one would love in the other. Shoes, shirts, cosmetics and gifts were finalized and bought. A day would not pass without them thinking what it would be like to meet for the first time in months. They would call each other to ease off on the excitement. But hardly could they stop it from building up day by day. The night before the big day was the hardest to pass. For them, it was like going to a job interview in Google. They would rehearse a hundred times how to react for the first time when they’ll meet the next day. And then boom! The next dawn appeared.

Both of them woke up even before the night could fade completely. Then final preparations were made multiple times, making sure they look absolutely perfect. At the pre-planned time, they both headed out to the place. The boy reached early and for them it was like, waiting for his trail in court. Excitement faded into anticipation. He would look around and thought, how would she look like, how will he react infront of her. The call then came from her that she arrived at the corner and waiting for him. He started walking with the heaviest sight. His heart was beating like it was pumping blood to the whole world; his eyes were spinning around crazy, trying to see his soul mate. He then stood under a shade and waited for her. And all of a sudden, someone tapped the back of his shoulder. His senses froze instantly. From his back appeared the girl of his life. His eyes got stuck to the face he waited this long to see. He wanted to cry out of joy but he held himself to try not to embarrass himself. And for her, she was standing infront of the man she fell in love with. She was too shy to look into his eyes. She was so hyped that she started sweating enormously. So, they had to find out somewhere cool enough to sit and calm down.

They went inside an air conditioned restaurant and sat beside each other. It took time for them to feel their new partner. He took every chance to turn to her side and see her. But she saw too nervous to make an eye contact. For him, she represented the most beautiful person and for her, he was the safest place to be with. Starting a conversation was hard. Even thou they knew each other for so long still felt like strangers on their first meet. He, lost in her face, whispered “You look million times more beautiful than what you do in pics”. She gave the most auspicious smile to him and replied, “Only because of you”. This broke the awkward silence between them and the air felt a bit lighter. Cute talks followed with nice food. They simply couldn’t believe they are finally together. They couldn’t believe all those times they dreamt of being together, arrived at-last. They took their time to endeavour each and every moment together. He then, held her hand. The soft contour of her fingers sank deep within his. It was like that Adam Young’s song with the lyrics- The spaces between my fingers are right where yours fit perfectly. He slowly held her hand tight and made sure she felt safe. The time there, was the very moment they waited and waited. After lunch they went out for a walk.

After few steps of walking side by side, she decided to hold his arm. She grabbed his elbow and held it tight. He felt a jolt of current flowing inside him. It is not because nobody held him before but he couldn’t believe his world that comprised of his life and her, were finally together. She felt the safest. When normally she would resist walking out in the sun, they were strolling happily under the summer heat. It was a slow walk, letting the busy world walk pass right by them. People saw two average Indian young couple walking down the lane. They saw, their whole world getting together for the first time. For the first time, it occurred to them, no storm can deter when they are together. But the time was a mean fellow. It didn’t stop for them. Slowly it was the time to depart.

He said her, “So when will we meet next!”

She replied “As planned, next year same time.”

Then they parted 450 kilometers to their respective lives only to wait for the next year to arrive. It is really tuff to wait for someone so long. And when you meet them, you stay with them for quite a while. But only they know what it feels to meet only once a year. Yes, only once in every year. Welcome the bitter truth. They are like every other couple of their age. But their love never stops growing. This idea of meeting only once a year never scared them. Their life keeps them away but their love made them a resilient human being. They learnt what it’s truly mean to stay away, how to be patient in difficult times and most important, what is a true love.

Many whine about long distance relationship. This couple made their weaknesses their strengths. They stood away from everybody else. They are unique to this world and special to each other. If you made it this far of the story then I am lucky to have a reader like you. Now, I have one more surprise to give before it ends.

Hire me on FIVERR to write for you. It is quite cheap, just $5 to be exact. Go and check out my gigs and I won’t disappoint you, Promise!! Please do contact for any business proposal down in the comments.

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